This invention relates generally to stringed musical instruments of the acoustical type. More specifically, this invention relates to a modified ten string guitar, the design and construction of which allows for the enhancement of musical overtones produced by the instrument.
Stringed musical instruments produce sound by vibrations that occur when the strings are plucked or strummed. The vibrating strings in turn cause parts of the body of the instrument to vibrate, all of which sets the surrounding air into motion. While each string vibrates over its entire length, it also vibrates in segments which are shorter than the total length of the string. Each vibrating segment produces a separate tone, called an overtone. The first overtone or harmonic of a note is known as the fundamental and results from the vibration of the whole string. The fundamental is also the lowest tone of an overtone series. Almost every musical sound consists of a combination of the actual note sounded, or the fundamental, and a number of higher tones related to, or in sympathy with, the fundamental note. The higher tones are overtones of the fundamental. For example, when a note is produced by a guitar string, the string vibrates as a whole and produces the fundamental tone. But the string also vibrates in separate sections at the same time and may vibrate in two, three, four or more parts. Each of these vibrations produces an overtone of higher frequency and pitch than the fundamental. The greater the number of vibrating parts is, the higher will be the frequency of the overtone. The number and strength of the overtones help determine the overall sound quality of the instrument. Sounds with strong harmonics or overtones are often called resonant or rich in quality, and sounds with relatively weak overtones are often called muted sounds. Ambient conditions such as temperature, pressure and humidity also affect the sound quality, or timbre, of stringed instruments, especially acoustic instruments. These atmospheric conditions also directly affect the ability of the instrument to transmit overtones through the surrounding air to be heard or recorded. It is known that overtone frequencies can and will expand and contract depending on these environmental factors and changes thereto.
An instrument which is capable of amplifying the resonance of musical overtones and which can be adjusted to fine tune the overtone frequency of the instrument to ambient atmospheric conditions would be highly desirable.